Apologizing in Writing
22 April 2008
Photo by Herdgotti
“Writing skills are fundamental in business. It’s increasingly important to be able to convey content in a tight, logical, direct manner, particularly in a fast-paced technological environment.”
“The skills of new college graduates are deplorable—across the board; spelling, grammar, sentence structure . . . I can’t believe people come out of college now not knowing what a sentence is.”
The two quotes above came from respondents to the 2004 report "Writing: A Ticket to Work… Or a Ticket Out" sponsored by The National Commission on Writing. To help ensure their future success, my business communication students have been learning about writing strategies for all kinds of business messages this semester: good news/neutral messages, persuasive messages, bad news messages, etc. With bad news messages in particular, apologies are often appropriate and helpful. Seth Godin has written on this before (notably here and here) and writes about it again today:
Two weeks ago, I left my car at (an expensive) parking garage in midtown New York. When I got back four hours later, I discovered that they had left the engine running the entire time. That, combined with the $30 fee and the nasty attitude of the attendant led me to write a letter to the management company.
The response: it was my fault. When I dropped off the car, I should have taught the attendant how to turn off my Prius.
What’s the point of a letter like that? Why bother taking the time? It’s not even worth the stamp. Does the writer expect me to say, “Oh, great point! Sorry to have bothered you. I’m an idiot! In fact, I’m so stupid, I’ll go out of my way to park there again next time…”
It’s pretty simple. The only productive response to a critical letter or piece of a feedback from a customer is, “You’re right…”
You’re right, I can see that you are annoyed.
You’re right, that is frustrating.
You’re right, with the expectations you had, it’s totally understandable to feel the way you do.
You’re right, and we’re really sorry that you feel that way.
I’m an advocate of apologies as well. Frankly, I’d rather read a poorly written apology than none at all.
If you need to accept blame, do it. If you need to right a wrong, do it. I try to model this for my children (yes, I am wrong about things sometimes) and expect them to apologize as well. This is what grownups do, whether at home or at work.
There used to be a sign at First Wok that read:
“We closed Mondays”
Made me smile every time I saw it.
The men’s restroom there had the obligatory Health Department sign: “All employees must wash hands before returning to work.”
Someone had crossed out the “r” in “work.”
That made me smile every time.
hahahaha!!!